Hoopsters Make Big Time Impression

ORANGE SPORTS

The Orlando Team Reached The Finals Of The Adidas Big Time Tournament.

August 1, 2002|By Bill Buchalter, Sentinel Staff Writer

Nobody expected this kind of success.

When Dexter Williams took his Orlando Hoopsters to the adidas Big Time Tournament last week in Las Vegas, it was a chance for the 16-and-under team to get a taste of the big time.

It was nothing more than a taste of the future.

Nine victories in a row later, the only Florida team among 344 in the tournament became the first 16-under team to reach not just the round of 48, but the championship game of this open-division event.

The Cinderella string ended with a 71-69 loss to the New York Ravens, but the buzz had begun.

"Nobody saw us coming," Williams said. "First they seeded the top 56 summer-league teams, and then they kept on going until they got to us. We came from the bottom and went right through these seeded team."

Williams, an assistant coach at Edgewater, went 9-1 with a team that included five Eagles players, led by Darius Washington and B.J. Johnson. Other Eagles who contributed to the success were Kenny Ingram, Jeremy McClendon and Josiah Perkins.

The team also included Taurean Green, son of former Magic player Sidney Green and a one-time Lake Howell and Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy player who Williams said will play for Pendleton Academy this year, the IMG school in Bradenton.

The rest of the squad included Lake Wales' Derrick Simmons, Haines City's Brandon Streeter, Evans' Terrance Stokes, Faith Christian's Glen Wolf, West Orange's Adrian Cowens and Westminster Academy's Jack Berry, who will play this coming year for Dr. Phillips.

Washington and Green, who shared backcourt roles with Johnson, were named to the all-tournament team.

Williams thought opposing teams got the message when the Hoopsters slipped past Salt Lake City Metro, 75-71, then Nebraska Bison Red, 84-71. But the game that got them over the hump and into the hearts of neutral fans was the 80-78 triumph over California favorite Pump `n Run.

"That got us pumped up, I know," Williams said. "To beat one of those high profile summer league all-start teams really set us off. Man, Pump `n Run, then the Michigan Hurricanes and New Orleans Jazz.

"They knew who we were then. Early on, Derrick Simmons played great. In the big games against the big teams, Darius and Taurean lit it up. So did B.J. But it was not an individual thing. They played team ball throughout. That's what got us to the finals."

Seattle Rotary Select fell, 69-66, then Washington's buzzer-beater shot beat the Michigan Hurricanes, 73-72, in the crucial quarter-final shootout. New Orleans Jazz fell, 63-54, before the final when the Ravens attempted 31 fouls shots to just 10 for the Hoopsters.

Washington scored a whopping 37 in the championship game and finished with 271 for the 10 games, a gaudy 27-point average. He also impressed Ravens' point guard Daon Merritt.

"He [Washington] may be better than [Sebastian] Telfair if you ask me," Merritt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, comparing the rising Edgewater junior with the New Jersey star considered the consensus No. 1 point guard in the country.